


The Mockingjay Pin

by WarriorQean



Category: The Hunger Games (Movies), the hunger g
Genre: District 12 (Hunger Games), District 2 (Hunger Games), F/M, Past Character Death, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 18:53:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30026286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarriorQean/pseuds/WarriorQean
Summary: Katniss married Peeta. And she loved him.But there was someone she had loved more.
Relationships: Gale Hawthorne/Katniss Everdeen, katniss everdeen/Peeta mellark (mentioned
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	The Mockingjay Pin

Katniss doesn't remember when she knows. 

In a way she knew from the beginning. When she started feeling different than she usually did. 

It wasn't a huge difference, but it was enough. The once comforting smell of animals made her turn her head in disgust. When Haymitch gave her a longer look than usual. 

It was one time. When her and Gale had been arguing about one thing or another and he had kissed her. 

They had kissed before of course. Those few times in the woods and when there had been blood dripping down his back on her kitchen counter. But this kiss was different. 

It was passion and heavy and sweat. They had ended up tangled in each other for longer than they had bargained. They had fallen asleep together, yet Katniss had left for her own compartment in 13 before the morning. They'd never talked about it, and Gale never pushed her. 

Sometimes she wished that he had.

He had died in the capitol. A last violent protest of Capitol supporters had rushed an unsuspecting group of soldiers. Gale had been hit with a shot to the head. They said he died instantly. Not that that was any comfort to Katniss.

She found out she was pregnant two weeks later. 

She stood at the funeral, never crying and just staring. She gave her condolences to the kids and Hazelle, leaving as quickly as possible. She went back to 12 with Peeta. She admitted it to Effie eventually, needing some support.

Effie was nothing but supportive, making up the excuse of getting away for a spell, and taking Katniss with her. They went to some far off retreat that used to be for Capitol people, now open to the entire population for rent. 

They stayed there for five months when Katniss went into labor. Effie called a trusted doctor and it took a horrible thirteen hours for the baby to be born. 

Katniss took two weeks to recover enough to be semi normal. By then she had decided what to do.

The pair took a train to district 2. Effie pulled some strings and found a nice couple in the heart of the city willing to keep quiet. Katniss dressed in a cloak like jacket, pulling the hood to hide her face and making Effie dress in muted colors so they wouldn't draw attention. She pinned the Mockingjay pin on the blankets surrounding the girl.

She knelt at Gale's grave while Effie held the baby and watched for strangers; giving her all the privacy she needed. 

Katniss didn't speak, just brought her hand over the name and thought everything she was to scared to say out loud. After a few careful minutes she rose, and brushing a tear turned and walked away from her one true love, her other half, her best friend. 

The couple seemed nice enough to Katniss. She held the girl as she was introduced, only pulling down her hood when they were safely inside. If they were surprised they didn't show it. The woman looked down at the girl with so much love that Katniss felt she was doing the right thing for a split second. 

"What's her name?" The woman asked, looking at Katniss expectantly. 

She realized then that she had never chose a name. "What?"

"Her name my dear. We would want to respect your wishes on what she's to be called."

Katniss brushed a hand against her daughter's cheek for the last time. Turning on her heel she paused at the door, hovering. Then she called over her shoulder. 

"Rose." She looked once more at the woman. "Her name is Rose."

They were silent on the way back to 12. Effie seemed to open her mouth every so often and then close it as if she thought better. Peeta and Haymitch were waiting on the platform, Peeta with flowers. 

She hugged him harder than she ever had before, realizing just then that she had missed him. Haymitch gave her a hug as well, and even seemed happy to see her without fighting it. 

Effie stayed for a few days and then left, kissing Katniss on the cheek as she went with a saddened look. 

She eventually married Peeta, Haymitch walking her down the aisle. She never could bring herself to have children though. It was the one thing she and Peeta never agreed on. 

\-------

Katniss carefully picked her way through the crowded streets of district 2. She brushed a stray graying hair out of her face, automatically bringing up her hand to check her bun (a braid twisted around it of course). It was a chilly breeze, and Katniss pulled her coat tighter around herself. 

A few people gave her odd looks, never lingering for more than a few seconds. She supposed people might still recognize her. Her hair wasn't jet black anymore, more of a darker brown with pepper streaks. There were a few wrinkles on her neck, and even more on her forehead. 

Peeta had contracted some type of disease five or six years ago. The doctors had said that the old world called it Cancer. There was no cure anymore.

After he died Haymitch had relapsed. She and Effie had gotten him clean again though, and those two obviously had something going on (not that they'd ever admit it).

It was the 27th anniversary of the girl. Katniss hadn't been in district 2 for over two decades. She had had barely any contact with Gale's family as well. It had been to painful.

She was approaching the graveyard. It had been years, yet Katniss knew exactly where she was going. The stone was farther away from the rest. In a special area for the ones who'd fallen during the rebellion. She couldn't help but think about the last time she was at the grave.

"Excuse me?"

Katniss turned, looking for the source of the voice. It was a woman. Her hair was dark brown, hanging in loose curls almost to her elbows. She was dressed plainly, yet sophisticated. Her face however took Katniss's breath away. 

She looked exactly like Gale. 

"Rose." The name came to her lips before she could think. "It's Rose. Isn't it?" 

The woman looked shocked. "Then I guess you’re Mrs. Mellark?" She sounded a bit bitter.

"That's not my name." Katniss turned back to the grave, "Not anymore."

"So then it's Katniss."

"Yes."

"You know," she said, reaching a hand into her pocket, "I wasn't sure where I had gotten this, but my parents told me about it eventually. I carry it everywhere, and I recognized you right away."

In her hand rested the Mockingjay pin. 

Katniss didn't move from her spot. The metal flashed in the light and she swore for a moment she could hear a light piano playing in her mind. She looked back at the girl. Her girl.

"It's hope," she whispered, "The pin. I thought it might give you some luck."

"I've been waiting for you to come back you know." Rose joined her at the grave now. "Thought to myself I'd go and see you if you don't come by the time I'm thirty."

She stared at the grave. 

"Is that my father?"

Katniss nodded once, a miniscule motion that made all the difference. 

She came to stand next to Katniss. She seemed kind, yet brave. 

Katniss felt her heart ache.

“So.” Rose said a bit nervously, “I’ve been planning you know, what I would say to you. Ever since I found out. Not in a creepy way,” her voice picked up in speed, “Just because I needed something to do. I’m babbling. Sorry. Can you really shoot as well as they say?”

Katniss found a feeling growing in her stomach, eating away at the ache.

“Do you have a bow?”

Rose turned, nodding, and Katniss followed her out of the graveyard. They came to a warehouse after a few blocks, making their way behind it.

Rose wrestled in a shed for a minute, then emerged with a bow.

“You can use the tree,” she told Katniss, pointing.

The bow was light, but balanced. Katniss strung the arrow given to her and pulled the string back. Breath in once, twice; giving her time to adjust to the feel of the bow. She aimed and released.

The arrow stuck itself into the knot off slightly to the side of the tree.

Rose looked impressed. “Wow. I’ve never been any good believe it or not.”

Katniss smiled at her. “I could teach you.” She saw the hesitant expression upon Rose’s face, “We don’t have to do anything really. Not if you don’t want to.”

Rose looked at the arrow, stringing out her next sentence quickly, as if Katniss might disappear at the moment she spoke.

“Could my father do that?”

Stiffly, Katniss nodded.

Rose still stared at the arrow. “What was he like?”

Katniss considered the question. How could she even begin to describe Gale? 

“He was angry. At the capitol, at me, at everyone who complied rather than fight back. He was brave and headstrong. And stubborn. As stubborn as I can be really. That’s probably why we got along so well; we were so similar.”

She paused, gauaging Rose’s reaction. The girl looked enamored with the information. Katniss went on.

“He was a hero. First one to volunteer for a mission, usually the most dangerous ones. I hated when he did that. He was my best friend.” Katniss met her daughter’s eyes. “You look so much like him.” 

Rose smiled through the sadness and nostalgia lining her features.

—

A week later, Effie Trinket kissed the girl she had watched be born. She dotted on her and told her how much she had grown as a confused Haymitch looked on.


End file.
